My thoughts on the Internet and technology
So, I'm fairly good with technology. I can set up systems to do just about anything. That's my job and my hobby.
I've setup virtualized pfSense routers, VOIP systems, DNS servers, DHCP servers, Active Directory servers, Email servers, web servers, I2P nodes, gaming servers, and Hyper-V servers.
I've 100%ed most of the Zelda games, Portal and Destiny as well as many others.
I've hosted LAN parties, with some of the best games I've ever seen like Goldeneye: Source, Empryion: Galactic Survival (Still Alpha), Age of Mythology, Age of Empires, Warcraft III, Unreal Tournament, Halo (1-3), Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and countless emulated games.
I've modded and mapped for games like Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
But what do I do with all that?
I mean at the end of the day, every game wanes into the sunset.
My virtualization knowledge gives me my job, and therefore money, but I'll leave behind no legacy. Nobody cares about a server you made after 10 years has passed. Everything becomes obsolete.
The Internet, despite what people say, isn't forever. Things fade, some things may persist, but we hold on to this Wild West view of the Internet. We think that we are free here, and maybe to some extent we are for now. But every year, restrictions get a little tighter. The Internet gets a little less free. A few things you've never heard of disappear from the Internet forever. A big company forces a small company out of the market. The governments of the world make our lives a little worse.
What do we do? In some ways, the very idea of cryptocurrency undermines every government in the world. How can they tax what they can't prove you have? But this depends on us considering our computers "secure" and based on everything I've seen... security is a myth. For fun, I'll link in xkcd's example on that: https://xkcd.com/792/
Some of my friends and family think I'm a pessimist, but right now, I think we're living in a golden age, and I don't think we have much longer left before our utopia turns dystopian. As more and more of our privacy is given away, and more and more of our trust is placed in the hands of fewer and fewer people, I think we'll soon discover just how fragile our Wild West really is.
And honestly? I don't know what we can realistically do to stop it.
If there are things you want to communicate that you want to remain secret then strong encryption is the only answer. Yes, that too may eventually be broken but the idea is that it will be far enough in the future that it won't matter. I don't think security is a complete myth though it is difficult. If security were a complete myth then bank accounts, cryptocurrencies and many other things would be impossible. Most of us are not (and should not) be posting private things on or via the internet in any form. Not enough people realize that Facebook's privacy settings (for example) aren't really guaranteed or necessarily impressive.
True enough.
I guess the thing that horrified me the most was when I was making my first website that involved a login, and I realized that while of course I'm a respectable coder that will securely hash and store only hashes of passwords for comparison, and clear any plain text passwords out of memory immediately, in no way can I guarantee that even a single other person hosting any other site will do the same.
But your average user isn't told that. They'll reuse their passwords over and over and over again, and so while encryption may work mathematically, I have no faith in the average developer to keep their code secure and bug free. (I don't even have faith in myself to keep my code bug free)
And I have no faith in the average user to not use the same password for every site. (steemit excluded of course)
True, but you don't have to worry about they average user. Just yourself :) Sooner or later the average user will catch up.
Perhaps, but that's giving the average user a lot more credit than I'm willing to give. I don't even trust myself to be able to stay afloat as the seas of technology rise. It develops faster than I'm able to keep up with it, and I would guess that the average user is slower than I am.
It's like the old joke goes, "I may sell at a loss, but I make it all up in volume!" It may not matter how long you give the average user.
Regardless, strong encryption is the only thing that can provide reasonable security but it is real. Eventually, applications will be developed that make this easier for every type of communication (and there are already some). I'm sure there was a time when people though driving an automobile was a task beyond the "average user". People adapt and things get easier as the technology develops. You don't necessarily have to keep up with the latest and greatest of everything, just enough to keep yourself secure. It really isn't all that hard and most of the time when true security is needed (i.e. logging on to a banking website) then it is already provided. True, you have to learn not to use the same password everywhere but is that really so hard?